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Pitchside pyrotechnics, pillars of popcorn and a mascot descending from the roof on a zip line. The National Football League celebrated a decade of regular-season games at Wembley as only it knows how. There was even a first win of this season for London’s ‘home’ team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who survived a wild fourth-quarter rally to beat the Indianapolis Colts 30-27.

When Thomas Pieters struck his first tee shot at 11.26am local time, the 24‑year‑old became the first European rookie to play in all five sessions since Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Paul Lawrie and Sergio García at the Battle of Brookline in 1999.

Had the United States not been harshly subjected to an earlier, harrowing run which led to public denouncement of captains and the formation of a task force, they might ponder how straightforward this all was. The Ryder Cup that had everything produced a result of wider benefit with Hazeltine the venue for the reinvigoration of the US in context of this event.